“In the beginning the Chinese government talked about culture — Peking opera, acrobatics — as soft power,” says Li Xiguang, a head of Tsinghua University’s International Center for Communication Studies. “When Xi Jinping came to power, he was totally different from previous leaders. He said China should have full self-confidence in our culture, development road, political system and theory.”

Since arriving in Springfield, CRRC has worked with local trade unions, the city’s vocational high school, area colleges, and the regional employment board to develop a skilled workforce for the factory. The factory is purchasing goods and services from dozens of local suppliers

A staff of 70 salespeople in bright yellow golf shirts greets prospective customers, and their sales pitches highlight many reasons Chinese are looking to invest abroad: a clean environment (none of China’s pollution here); a Western education (a Minnesota boarding school will open a Forest City branch this fall); a hedge against an uncertain future (Malaysia offers long-term visas as well as a path toward citizenship). There’s also the comfort of high-level security — retinal scans and facial-recognition cameras — for a population conditioned to think of Big Brother as benign. Nepali guards patrol Forest City around the clock — in part, one salesman said, because Chinese clients might not feel comfortable interacting with local Muslims.